Stan and the others headed south, as Kehaar had instructed. In the late afternoon, they spotted a familiar looking hill.

"There it is- South Down!" said Kyle. "We're home!"

"And there's Wendy and Bebe coming down the hill," said Stan.

The two does were running towards them across the grass. "Stan!" cried Wendy. "Kyle! Kenny! Is everyone all right?"

"Yeah, we're doing fine," said Stan.

Bebe pointed to Kyle's injured foot. "Kyle, you're bleeding."

"It's just a tiny cut," Kyle said with embarrassment. "Nothing to worry about."

"Did you find Ike?" Wendy wanted to know.

Kyle shook his head. "No, there wasn't a sign of him anywhere."

"But we did find a lot of trouble," said Stan. "We've got quite a story. Let's gather everyone together so we can tell them all about it."

The five of them started up the hill. "You know who else showed back up?" Wendy told the boys. "Cartman. He came in the middle of the night, with an ear missing and a gunshot wound on his leg. Seems he ran afoul of some humans, but he won't talk much about his experiences. Heidi's been taking care of him; she refuses to leave his side."

Kyle grimaced. "Not sure how I feel about Cartman coming back. What if he wants to cause trouble?"

"I don't think he does," said Bebe. "He's been a lot nicer to everyone since he returned. Whatever happened to him must have really humbled him."

When they reached the summit the first rabbit that they saw was Mackey. "There you are, boys!" he cried. "I wasn't sure you were ever comin' back!"

"Well, here we are," said Stan.

"M'kay," said Mackey.

Shelly came up to Stan and gave him a big hug. "You really had me worried, you little turd," she said. "Don't take off like that again."

The other rabbits all came running to welcome their returning friends as well. Even Cartman dragged himself out of his burrow and hobbled over. "Sorry I was such an asshole before," he told Stan. "But I'm back now, if you'll have me."

"Sure, man," said Stan. "Yeesh, looks like you got banged up pretty bad."

"Yeah, but I'm getting better," said Cartman. He pointed to Kyle's foot. "What about Kyle? What happened to him?"

"Oh, I just cut my foot on a rock. No big deal," said Kyle. "But have we got a story to tell you guys."

And he and Stan launched into the tale.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Woundwort had sent search parties in all directions, to look for Stan and his friends. A party headed by Captain Campion had just reached the spot on the riverbank where Stan, Kyle, and Kenny had disembarked from the boat.

"Any sign of 'em, men?" Campion asked the three rabbits under his command.

"Look over here, Cap'n!" one of them called. Campion walked over to him. "See, there's a little drop o' blood on the ground here," the rabbit said. The blood was Kyle's, of course.

Campion sniffed the blood. "Aye, it smells familiar. Think it's from the one called Kyle." So then, he sniffed around on the ground nearby. "Aye, I'm pickin' up their trail now right enough. They were headin' that way…" He waved his paw in a southerly direction.